Calendar

Todd Haley likes to say that the Chiefs are always on the look out for ways to improve the roster and that players are competing for spots every day. That’s exactly what happened after one day of training camp as Kansas City signed free agent WR Verran Tucker and waived WR David Grimes.

Tucker (6-1, 204) originally entered the NFL as a rookie free agent with Dallas in 2010. He played in 23 games at the University of California, catching 50 passes for 815 yards (16.3 avg.) with four TDs. He began his collegiate career at El Camino Junior College where he earned all-league honors as a sophomore. He posted 44 receptions for 504 yards with seven TDs as a senior at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, California.

Grimes (5-9, 183) joined the Chiefs as a free agent in 2010. He played in 45 games (22 starts) at Notre Dame, catching 90 passes for 900 yards with seven TDs.

After he signed back in May, Grimes looked to have an edge over the other undrafted rookies and first year pla

yers due to his history with Charlie Weis with the Irish. Any advantage he may have had went out the window

when he couldn’t stay on the field for OTAs due to an injury. As we all know, Haley wants to see guys competing, not on the sidelines.

That’s not to say that Tucker is a lock by any means. He goes to the back of the line with the likes of WRs Rich Gunnell, Jeremy Horne and Lance Long trying to steal that final roster spot.

What he does bring to the table is prototypical size, something that Grimes couldn’t give the Chiefs no matter how much time he spent with Weis. Hopefully for Tucker’s sake, he brings a better game to the table than he did during the East-West Shrine week. For a guy that doesn’t have top-end speed, I don’t recall him having the best of hands that week, something the Chiefs cannot afford to have after it was an epidemic last season. A week shouldn’t erase the consistent (albeit unspectacular) performance he turned in during his two years at Cal, but it’s something we need to keep an eye on.